When I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a lot of questions rose in my brain. The main one, however, was WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO BEN SOLO TO TURN HIM INTO KYLO REN?!

So here's my take on it, before 2017 when the next movie comes out.

Chapter One: The Son

The new Jedi Order, led by Luke Skywalker, was small and almost insignificant. Far off in the Outer Rim, children of all sorts that were born Force-sensitive were guided to the tropical climates of Yavin 4- most were young, with barely tapped in potential to the Force, some were older and more experienced, inexplicably drawn to the planet. All of their fates, however, rested in the hands of the sole remaining Jedi Master Skywalker, who realized he may have taken too much to handle when young Ben Solo was sent to his Jedi Praxeum.

Ben, 6 at the time his full Force potential was revealed, was transported from the Republic, where his parents resided to the Jedi Academy with haste that Leia Organa immediately regretted and Han Solo subtly ignored. Han, for his credit, didn't entirely question Leia on her choice to send Ben off to be taught by her brother- he threw in a few 'Do you think he's really ready's and some 'Personally, I always wanted to teach him to fly's for good measure, but Leia was like a rock; thoroughly immovable.

There was also the issue of Ben's insatiable interest in Leia's family- her blood family, in specific, her father. Ben knew of what and who Anakin Skywalker-turned-Darth Vader-turned-Anakin Skywalker again was, in the sense of any six-year-old and their knowledge of galactic history. He knew that this man, this enforcer and Jedi and Sith all rolled into one, was his grandfather, and Leia sorely regretted telling him. Since his discovery, Ben asked for nothing but stories of the Empire, and demanded that Uncle Luke tell him about the battles on the Death Star and on Bespin, and he thirsted for any facts he could obtain about the man he never knew but wished he did.

Luke all but ghosted around the topic, telling Ben the truth but in the vaguest sense of the term- and Ben was satisfied, satisfied with just knowing about him and never had any of the family seen the boy so enraptured with anything than he was with stories about Darth Vader. Of course, Luke mentioned how his father had saved him, and how he ultimately turned from the Dark Side to the Light once more in the process of throwing the Emperor off the bridge and into the depths of the second Death Star, but the knowledge that Vader was good once more didn't seem to even phase him.

This, of course, worried his parents- Leia, especially, for she saw all of the torment that Vader had forced upon her and her family, and witnessed first-hand the complete destruction of Alderaan by her father's hands. She saw Vader, but not only that, as she also saw Anakin Skywalker in Ben. So, Leia made the decision to send her son off to study with Luke. She refused to even think her boy, her only child, would be seduced by the Dark Side like her father, no matter how much she foresaw it happening.

When Ben found out he was Force-sensitive, he was elated- over the moons with joy. And, much to the disappointment to virtually everyone around him, his first reaction to his abilities was, "I'm going to be just like Granddad!"

"You're going to train," Leia said, "With Uncle Luke. To harness your powers." She sat with Ben in the gardens of her palace in Hanna City on Chandrila, the capitol of the New Republic that round of elections. Her son, ever the innocent 8 year old boy he appeared to be, was focused on the novelty of the pink and purple flowers growing, intertwined with the carefully trimmed hedges and trees and barely listened to his mother.

"Ben." Leia tried again, and her son grasped at the petals of a flower and ripped them off, "Ben!"

"What?" He asked, his voice petulant and annoyed, his chubby fists gripping tightly around the petals.

"This isn't your play room, Ben, you can't just destroy everything you touch." Leia stood, brushing her robes free of clingy grass and specks of dirt. She refused to change her behaviour, no matter the fact that she was wearing her senatorial clothing while taking her son for a walk in the gardens of the Senate.

"Why not?" He asked. For a moment, Leia forgot how worried she was for him and his future and smiled at his wide brown eyes and his confused and innocent tone.

"Because it isn't yours. Imagine you owned the galaxy, you'd be able to do anything you want with it- but since you don't, you can't just go around, say, destroying moons, now, can you?" Leia reasoned, kneeling on her knee before Ben. He stared at her, processing the information to the best of his abilities, before shrugging.

"If it's just a moon, then, I don't see the problem." Ben argued, crossing his arms.

Leia frowned and placed her hands on Ben's shoulders and spoke gently, "Ben, I need you to listen." At Ben's nod, she continued, "You're going to go train with Uncle Luke, okay? You're going to go live in a temple with other kids just like you, and you're going to learn how to be a Jedi."

"Just like Granddad?" He asked, his voice full of admiration and hope. He didn't realize that he'd be sent away from his parents, from the influence of Han and Leia and his fate rested solely in the hands of her brother. If he failed to hinder the seduction to be like Ben's hero, Leia didn't know who would.

Leia swallowed thickly, forcing the memories of the torture sessions she had unwillingly submitted herself to down, "Just like Granddad."

"You sure you don't wanna just… Stay here, with us? You could learn how to fly the Falcon and-" Han started, practically yelling from his position on said ship, his voice barely carrying above the sound of sparking and music blasting and Chewie's annoyed grumbling. Ben sat on one of the wings of the Millennium Falcon while Han and the Wookie made some last minute adjustments to their bucket of bolts before taking off again, Force knows where.

Chewie interrupted Han's yelling with a loud growl, and Han threw his hands up and removed his goggles, "Don't tell me to stuff it, fuzzball! I'm just offering another opportunity for the kid, in case he didn't want to be a Jedi."

"I do!" Ben yelled over top of the music.

"What?" Han yelled back. Ben pouted, jutting his lower lip out, and absentmindedly kicked his feet against the Falcon, causing Chewie to roar at him. The boy abruptly stopped.

Han huffed and leaned over, pressing his hand against the speakers he had sitting up on the ship, causing the atmosphere to go deathly still and silent. Han even set aside the tools he held in his hands and Chewie decided that now was an opportune time to leave the father and son alone.

Now, Han was never one for serious talks- He remembered his last coherent memory before being frozen in carbonite on Bespin with Leia and how she had told him she loved him… Who replied with 'I know'? As the master almost talking their way out of anything, and being a well-known smuggler in the Outer Rim and Core planets who prided in wordsmithing, there was always the uncomfortable atmosphere of a serious conversation that Han found his tongue tying up in and whatever spanned between the space in his brain and what came out of his mouth managed to mess up every serious conversation he ever had royally.

"I said I want to be a Jedi, father." Ben said, his voice so firm for someone who was so young.

"But… Why?" Han asked, leaning back and resting his arm on his knee, "You know I wasn't one, obviously, and your mom wasn't. What's the appeal?"

Ben raised his eyebrows and looked at Han in a way that practically screamed 'you're asking me this?', "Everything! The lightsabers, the Force, father! I… I need to go learn what Uncle Luke can teach me! Please, please let me go."

"I'm not keepin' you here, kid. You're one of the wizards, like Luke and his dad, so you gotta go see what you can do." Han said. Inwardly, he was disappointed- his only son, the boy that probably would be his only child ever, so willing to leave him and hide out on some Outer Rim planet with a bunch of wizard-y children, "Would you still wanna learn how to fly the Falcon? Luke won't object to having us come visit you, so you could come with me for a bit, you know, if you wanted."

Ben shrugged half-heartedly and played with the seams on his tunic, "Yeah, I guess."

At Ben's reaction, Han's heart practically broke. Outwardly, though, he just laughed it off, "Yeah, I guess flying isn't for everyone, huh? Some of you kids nowadays like to wave glowing sticks in the air and push things around with your mind."

Ben stared at his father incredulously, finding his description of the Jedi lifestyle appalling. He didn't say anything, however, and just smiled.

"Do you worry about Ben Solo?" Luke asked, his voice betraying the nauseated feeling he felt from the Force each time he gazed into it for the future of his nephew whereas his face remained impassive and cool as ever a Jedi should, "The Force surrounding him feels… Corrupted."

Obi Wan Kenobi's Force ghost shimmered into visibility in front of Luke, who sat on the temple floor on Yavin 4, cross-legged, eyes closed, and stared down at the new and only Jedi Master. The children, in the rooms surrounding him, were fast asleep on their mats and payed no attention to their Master's conversation in the meditation room of the temple, leaving Luke a decent amount of time to get his fears off of his chest to an old friend and trusted ally.

From his training, Luke was able to tap into the Force and call upon any of the old Jedi Masters (including his father, though Anakin was harder to reach, likely due to his corruption before his turn to the Light) at any point in time he wished. Generally, Obi Wan was open to conversation, especially if Luke searched for guidance in the ways of the Force and as to how he wished to train the children he held under his roof.

"I have not checked on him in a while, Luke," Kenobi stated quietly, "But your thoughts betray you. I feel the corruption you feel."

"His future is so uncertain, and I can't tap into anything that would help me see what he is to become." Luke replied, "He's coming here, Master, Ben's coming to train with the rest of us."

"I trust he will become powerful." Kenobi said, "You will lead him properly."

"That's why Leia and Han… Well, mostly Leia, decided to send him here. He needs training desperately- he's obsessed with my father." Luke sighed, looking up at the Force ghost of the Jedi Master, who appeared deep in thought, "And not Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker, but the Imperial dog that was Darth Vader."

"That is… Troublesome." Obi Wan replied.

"But Ben's only eight, now." Luke said thoughtfully, "We have a lot of time- I have a lot of time to help him. I want him to see the true ways of the Force."

"I trust you would be able to do so, Luke." Kenobi smiled, tentatively passing a celestial hand over the Jedi Master's shoulders, "You will teach him well, like you have been doing with all of these children. They are learning well."

"Thank you, Obi Wan." Luke bowed his head and grinned, "I'll turn to you if ever I require more guidance."

"I will always be here, I have not anywhere to go." Kenobi joked, before vanishing completely, leaving Luke alone with his thoughts, and the faint sound of snoring.

Ben remembered his parents fighting the evening before his father and Chewbacca were scheduled to transport him to Yavin 4 for the rest of his life- Ben wasn't really educated on the lifestyle of the Jedi. When would he be done his training? He remembered that his Uncle Luke often told him that the life of a Jedi involved constantly learning. Ben, even at the age of 8, knew he absolutely didn't want to be a nomadic student when he was 50 and older. He knew that his father didn't want that either.

He believed that was what the argument was about.

Sneaking out of his room mere hours after he was sent to bed, for reasons he didn't quite know why- it was some sort of urge, something similar to the Force he was so abundant in, the thing he was being sent away to train- he heard his parents screaming something fierce at each other in their room. The droids, an R2 unit that wasn't R2D2, and something similar to a ball with a head, casually beeped at each other, before taking notice of the child who was strolling around the halls, and the ball thing rolled into Ben's leg, causing him to swipe at it and press a finger to his lips to hear what his parents raged about… Not that it was difficult.

"I don't want him to leave!" He heard his father yell, urgency in his voice, "Something is different about that kid! Sending him away for Force knows how long… That can't be good for a kid like him."

Like me? Ben thought, his eyebrows furrowing together. What do they mean, like me?

"It's the perfect solution, Flyboy!" His mother replied, sounding frustrated, "Imagine how he'd be if he… If he roamed the kriffing galaxy with you, leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Side of the Force! He wouldn't learn anything, and you know how he is with Vader, as it is!"

Ben felt a small amount of joy, hearing his mother acknowledge the man he looked up to so much.

"That's what I mean, Your Worshipfulness," Han exclaimed, and Ben thought: Your Worshipfulness... What? Han, however, continued, after Ben's mother scoffed at the nickname, "If we take the kid away from the Force, then he should be fine!"

"You can't take the Force away from the kid." Leia replied, her tone sad, "He'll find a way."

There was a beat, a pause of silence that allowed Ben to reflect on what he heard- His parents… Were afraid? For him? He didn't understand, his eight year old brain not wrapping around the concept of his fascination with the Sith Lord that was his Granddad, and how it could lead, ultimately, to his downfall.

Instead, Ben found himself annoyed with his father and how Han seemed so… Possessive over him. Refusing to allow him to control his strange and confusing powers. Ben felt resentment for the first time against his father, and scowled.

The ball droid rolled into his leg again, and Ben practically snarled at it, kicking it away in childish fury. The droid beeped loudly, alarmed, and rolled away in a haste, bumping into the R2 unit and the walls. The R2 droid replied with a series of annoyed blooping and his parents fell silent at the noise.

They emerged from their room to see Ben furiously glaring after the ball droid and the R2 unit, his heart pounding wildly in his ears.

He barely heard his mother whisper to Han, "Do you see what I mean about his temper?" She then gasped loudly, almost seeming fake, and ran over to Ben and wrapped her arms around his small shoulders.

"Ben! What are you doing up?" She demanded, her tone accusing, but still gentle. Somewhere in his mind, Ben felt a decent amount of hatred for her, too, and how she could act like she said nothing wrong not two minutes past.

"Couldn't sleep." Ben mumbled, his face pressed against her shoulder, his hands curled into small fists.

Han stared at him for a good moment, before turning away as if he saw something in the eight year old's eyes that bothered him and stalked off. Ben hadn't the slightest idea where.

Leia, it seemed, also ignored Han's departure, and instead stood, wrapping her hand around her son's, gently pulling him back to his room, "Come on, let's get you back to bed. Do you want anything? A glass of water, or milk?"

Ben shook his head, and crawled in his bed. Leia tucked the comforter around his body, under his chin, and pressed a small kiss to his forehead. Through the Force, with what little control he had, Ben focused on his mother and felt what seemed like worry pulsating through into his mind. Ben bit his lip and turned over onto his side so that his back faced his mother.

He didn't understand… Why were they so worried about him?

He couldn't understand.

What was so wrong about the Dark Side?

The next morning, when Han and Chewie were supposed to give Ben transport to Yavin 4 for the start of the rest of his life to be dictated by rules and peace, the boy wasn't surprised to find that Han had flown the proverbial coop. Leia was enraged, snapping off on the comlink about how she would need to take the day off because her son's lousy father wasn't around to take him off Chandrila.

Ben found himself staring at the docking station, his eyes searching for the Millennium Falcon that he had grown accustom to seeing, that seemed to be a staple in Ben's strange and changing life.

Instead, he saw nothing.

For the second time in his short life, he realized he felt a great resentment towards Han Solo.

Honestly, I can't see redemption in Kylo- What kind of person would turn to the dark side because of some sick obsession with their dead grandfather? What kind of guy kills his dad and then just kind of... I dunno, it seemed to me he brushed it off? And, if he's to 'complete his training' because he severed ties with his father by killing him, he's only going to get darker.

Which, I mean, I kind of appreciate. It's been a while since a principle character in the Star Wars franchise was evil just for the sake of being evil.

Warning: Use of EU stuff!

I want this story to be a kind of twisted narrative- the first chapter is relatively 'sane', and the rest get progressively darker because Ben is seduced to the dark. I'd rather like to see this story go up to the beginning of SW:TFA, but I also want to add another small vignette at the end where Leia and Kylo meet again after his pa's death, with Kylo as a prisoner of the Resistance. I also want to make it plausible, because a dude like him isn't going to get captured too easily.

Either or, I really needed to start something about this. I'm working on the second chapter right now, so hopefully it goes up soon! Please let me know what you think!